Dutchy's Story
by Aris1013
Summary: There is a lot more to Dutchy's life than meets the eye. Here is my take on what his life may have been like.
1. A Rough Start

**AN: Finally my next Newsies story is here! I want to thank Ealasaid Una for the suggestions in this story! I also want to let everyone know that this will not directly relate to my two other Newsie stories, but they will be some connection with them. So it is not necessary to read Spot's and Racetrack's story, but feel free if you want. Enjoy! **

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Simone Devonsky, though that was not her real name, migrated from Germany to New York when she was thirteen to escape an arranged marriage with a horrible man. When she got to America she soon learned that this place was her freedom, but along with her freedom she had to do whatever it took to survive. And while she ran away from her home to get away from one man, she entered a world where several men entered her life. This lifestyle was not ideal, but Simone got enough money to live and to eat.

This story, however, is not about Simone, but her son, Isaac. On November 2nd 1881, Simone gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, whom she did not know the father of. She could have guessed with his bright blonde hair, but decided that her work and her personal life should stay apart as much as possible. Simone was determined now to take care of Isaac no matter what the cost, and to ensure that her baby had a place to sleep, she continued her business with men. Some nights she would leave Isaac with a friend, but more often than not, she brought the men back to her tiny apartment.

As Isaac got older she tried to teach him as much English as she could, but her own was not the best, so Isaac grew up with a broken mixture of English and German. The boy was too young to understand what his mother was doing with all the men that came over, but he liked it when they came because his mother told him they were going to play hide and seek. He would always find a great spot, and it took his mother ages to find him. If the men came early enough in the day Isaac would get to play with the neighbor kids too.

Isaac loved his mother very much, but once he turned five she decided that he was old enough to stay home alone. At first she did not leave him alone for long, but as the months went by, it took her longer and longer to return. Isaac was supposed to go to sleep soon after she left, but most of the time he stayed up and waited for her to get home. When she came in and kissed him on the cheek, he pretended to be asleep. Isaac always fell asleep soon after his mother kissed him, because he knew they were both safe at home.

One night Isaac heard his mother come home, but she did not come over to kiss him on the cheek. Instead he heard her shuffling around, and then she began to sob. He knew he was supposed to be in bed, which was really just a bunch of blankets in the corner of the room, but he had to make sure his mother was alright. Isaac threw back his covers, and let his tiny feet walk him to his mother.

"Mutter?" His voice was quiet, but Simone heard him.

Simone looked up with wide eyes, and Isaac saw she had a bruise on her face and blood coming from her lip where she was holding a rag to it. He was frozen, not sure what to do. Isaac had never seen his mother look like this before.

She shooed him away. "Back to bed, go!"

For a moment Isaac stayed and stared, but then he turned around and jumped into his bed. He pulled the covers up over his ears terrified that whatever monster did this to his mother was going to come again. The next day Simone acted as if the night before did not happen, and Isaac did not question it. A few days later a letter was slipped under the door, and Isaac watched as his mother grew afraid. He knew it had to do with the monster that had plagued them, but his mother still would not talk about it.

She folded up the letter and slipped it in her pocket. She then began to rush around the apartment grabbing her clothes and changing. After she was done doing and had thrown some makeup on, she grabbed Isaac by the shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"Mutter must go for little while okay? I'll be back soon. Ich liebe dich." She kissed him on the forehead, and rushed out of the house. Isaac barely got to say I love you back as she shut the door.

Isaac was worried, but his mother always left, so he knew she would be back. His mother was strong and he knew that she could take care of any monsters that tried to hurt her. He just hoped that the monster would not come after him. So Isaac waited, and waited, and waited. He waited until the next day with no sign of his mother. He got hungry and ate some bread that was in the small kitchen. Isaac thought about going to see if the neighbor kids wanted to play, but he decided that he should be there when his mother returned. So he waited some more and finally during the night, just as he was about to roll out his bed, he heard voices outside.

He listened to the voices and heard that they were deep, male voices. His mother must have brought more men back, which meant Isaac needed to hide. Before the men opened the door, Isaac went to the tiny kitchen cupboard and climbed inside. The front door opened and Isaac listened. There were hushed voices and shuffling around, but Isaac did not hear his mother's voice. He decided to peek out of the cupboard a little to see what was going on. There were two large men in the house looking through their things. He could not hear what they were saying, but they were putting some of their stuff into a bag. The men seemed to be grabbing most of Simone's stuff.

"That it?" One of the men looked at the other.

The other man looked around and began to nod, but then stopped. "Did she have a kid?"

Isaac's eyes widened, the two men were staring at his toy top on the floor.

"Don't think so, let get outta here." The man began to walk towards the door.

The man staring at the top lingered for a moment and glanced around, before following the other man out the door.

Once the coast was clear, Isaac climbed out of the cupboard and looked around the apartment. The men seemed to have taken anything shiny, or nice looking. Her draws were ransacked and stuff was thrown about. As Isaac stood in the ruins that were once his home, he knew that those men were the monsters that tried to hurt his mother. As much as he hated to think it, Isaac knew his mother was not coming home. He was afraid the monsters would come back, so Isaac decided that when the sun came up, he would leave.

The sun was just rising over New York when Isaac grabbed as much food as he could out of the kitchen and left. He passed a couple of people that lived in the building, but none of them granted a second look as he walked by. He had no idea where he was going, but he knew he wanted to get as far away from his apartment as possible. Isaac had walked the streets a little bit with the neighbor kids, but for the most part he stayed indoors because his mother said that it was too dangerous for them to both be outside. He never quite understood that, but now none of that mattered.

Isaac was awed at the hustle and bustle of the world around him. Even though the sun was just coming up, the streets were alive with people. Although Isaac's old life was over and he was scared of what was to come, he was excited. Little Isaac spent the day exploring Manhattan, there were kids all over the place, but Isaac was sure all of them had a home to go to. He was not sure what he was going to do now that he was on his own, but he knew he could not be the only boy this had ever happened to.

In the middle of the afternoon Isaac sat down on a bench and got some bread out of his knapsack. He had barely taken a bite when he saw two kids, not much older than him, walk up to him.

"Hey kid, watcha got there?" The boy had squinty eyes and looked mean.

"Bread." Isaac stared at them with big eyes, not sure why they were asking.

The other kid smiled. "Here's da thing kid. We'se hungry, and it seems to us like you really ain't dat hungry since you'se only one person. Get it?"

Isaac just stared at them blankly.

The squinty eyed kid spoke. "What me friend is trying to say is, give us your food, and we'se won't have a problem."

Isaac understood that, but he was just as hungry as these boys were. "No."

"Den we'se gonna have a problem." He cracked his fist. "Get 'em!"

Isaac gasped, and jumped from the bench running past the two boys. They both began to chase after him. Isaac ran faster, but the boys were bigger and had stronger legs; they were catching up quick. He could hear their footsteps getting closer, and then he felt a tug on his knapsack. He slowed down a bit, but the boys were still running while holding onto the bag.

"Stop kid!"

Isaac shook off his knapsack which caused the squinty eyed boy to trip a little. The other boy kept on though, because he saw that Isaac still had the bread in his hand. Isaac willed himself to go faster as he turned the corner. He ran down a little ways, but knew that the boy was going to catch up to him soon. Isaac saw a wooden door and decided to run inside to hide. No matter what was behind that door, it had to be better than the boys ready to soak him outside. Isaac shut the door and sat down in front of it trying to catch his breath. He listened to make sure the boys did not see where he went, and when he heard nothing, let out a big sigh of relief.

He was not sure what kind of place he was in. It was quiet, and there was a small hallway leading into another room. If he was lucky no one noticed he was there and he could leave unseen when he was sure the coast was clear. Isaac thought too soon, because he heard the floor squeak in the other room. Isaac opened the door just a crack to peek out, but he saw the boys across the street looking around. He shut it and turned back around to see an old man with a bowler hat and glasses staring down at him.

"You in some kinda trouble young man?"

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**AN: Yay, first chapter done! Can anyone guess who the old man is? Hope you all enjoyed it and thanks for reading! **


	2. Becoming a Newsie

**Thank you Newsiesofchicago for reviewing! **

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Isaac stared up at the old man in front of him. The man did not seem angry with Isaac for being there, but he could not be sure. There was no place to go; if Isaac tried to leave he would run into those boys again, so he just continued to stare at the man.

"You speak English boy?" The man lowered his eyes at him more.

Isaac nodded.

"You gotta a name?"

Isaac nodded again.

The man smiled a little. "Well what is it?"

"Isaac Devonsky."

The man nodded. "Hmm…someone chasin' you out there?"

Isaac, again, nodded.

"It can be tough out there, especially for a young boy as yourself. You got a home to go to Isaac?"

Isaac looked down and shook his head no.

The man clapped him on the shoulder. "I figured as much. It's all right, son follow me." He led Isaac to the other room where there was a large desk with files behind it.

"I bet ya don't know where you ran into today do ya?" The man went behind the desk and opened up a book.

Isaac stared at the man, curious as to what was in the book.

"This is a lodging house for Newsies, ya know the kids ya see peddling papes on the streets. I, Kloppman's the name, am in charge of them while they stay here."

Isaac still did not understand what exactly the man, Kloppman, was talking about.

Kloppman saw the look on Isaac's face. "its money and a bed if ya wanna sell papes with the other boys."

Now that was something Isaac understood. He smiled a little at Kloppman. "Yeah."

"Well okay, ya got any money?

Isaac shook his head no.

Kloppman laughed a little. "They never do. You can stay here for free tonight, and I'll let ya borrow a dime tomorrow to buy some papers. After you start making your money you can pay me back. Rent is five cents here, papes are a two for a penny, but the boys will help you tomorrow. Now they are all out sellin' now, so why don't you stick around with me and I'll tell ya more about how things work 'round here."

Isaac smiled and nodded. He leaned on the counter, and Kloppman began to show him everything he did there. The man lived at the lodging house too, and took care of everything. He made sure each boy signed in when they first came, and signed out if they were not planning on coming back. A lot of them had a tab running because they either could not afford to pay rent right off, or wanted to keep the money for themselves for a while. Most boys, though, just paid him what they could at the beginning of the week so they did not have to worry about it every night. Kloppman continued to show Isaac everything about the lodging house until some of the Newsies shuffled their way in for the day.

Most of the boys just glanced at Isaac and went on upstairs, but a few of the boys, the oldest of the bunch, stopped and stared for a minute.

"Who's da new scrap Kloppman?" This boy was probably around sixteen and had dark brown hair that stuck out in chunks around his hat. He did not make eye contact with Isaac, only looked at Kloppman.

Kloppman put a hand on Isaac's shoulder. "This is the newest boy, if ya wouldn't mind showin' him the ropes, I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

The boy looked like he did not want anything to do with Isaac.

"Remember Socks, you were new here once too."

Socks rolled his eyes a little. "Yeah okay, come on kid." He motioned for Isaac to follow him up the stairs.

Isaac jumped off the counter and followed Socks and the other two boys up the stairs, looking back at Kloppman with big eyes. He was not sure if he was making the right choice, but money and a place to sleep sounded pretty good. The top of the stairs led out into the bunk room. The room was filled with, what seemed to Isaac, like endless bunk beds, most of which had small side tables next to them. There were random little things scattered around the room, each telling Isaac something about each boy that stayed there. There were a few coats, bags, and books lying about. Socks walked over to a bunk.

"You're lucky, the house ain't full right now, so you get your own bed, but if any more come den ya haveta share." Socks motioned to a bottom bunk in the middle of the room.

Isaac would later learn that the boys wanted the bunks closer to the walls because they did not have to be surrounded by a ton of other guys snoring and talking in there sleep. Sure they could all still hear it, but the middle was the center of it all. Socks walked into another room, and Isaac followed. The other two boys sat down on their own beds and took off their shoes, ready to relax for the evening.

"Dis is the washroom. Toilets, sinks, towels. The water's freezin', but you'll get clean." He stopped like he was thinking. "Pretty sure dat's it, got questions?"

Isaac shook his head no.

"Quiet one, ain'tcha?" He looked Isaac up and down. "Where ya from anyways?"

"New York."

Socks laughed a little. "Okay, let me rephrase, where's dat accent from?"

"Oh, Deutschland."

Socks didn't really say anything, but nodded. "I'll letcha get settled."

Isaac went over to his bunk and sat down. He was nervous about his new life; everything was happening so fast. As the evening went on more and more boys shuffled into the bunk room for the night, like before some just passed right by him, while others gave him the "new kid" look. Most of the boys started playing card games, or playing with the few toys they had. Isaac noticed some kids around his age playing some game with pebbles, he must have been watching for a while because one noticed and called out to him.

"Hey new kid, wanna play?" The boy was about Isaac's age with shaggy black hair.

Isaac smiled and got up from his bunk. He went over and the boys showed him how to play their game. They seemed nice, and Isaac found that he may have made some friends on his first night in the lodging house. The black haired boy was called Skip, for reasons Isaac was unclear, but it seemed that every boy in that place had a nickname. He wondered if he would get one as well. The boys played until night fell, and then they all made way to their beds. Once Isaac was in bed, he had mixed feelings about the next day. Part of him was excited to start a new life, while the other part was nervous because everything was going to be different from then on.

The next morning the sun was barely peaking through the windows when Isaac heard Kloppman shout for everyone to get up out of bed. He cracked his eyes open and shut them again. With his mother working nights, Isaac never had to get up this early before, so it would take some getting used to. The boy sat up in bed and yawned, watching all the other boys rub the sleep out of their eyes, get dressed, and head to the wash room. Isaac got up and changed out of his sleep clothes, and then followed the rest of the boys in their routine. Everything was so crowded in the morning and all the boys seemed to have a system down for when to get their spot, but Isaac was a little overwhelmed at the business of morning, so he waited for his turn to wash up and get ready.

He was last to get out of the bathroom, but Isaac did not want to get left behind, so he made his business quick and ran after the group of boys making their way downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs Kloppman was counting to make sure everyone was out of bed. Isaac stopped for a second to look at him.

Kloppman smiled. "You'll do just fine out there." He gave him a wink and set Isaac on his way.

The closer Isaac got to the distribution office, the more excited he was to start selling papers. All the other boys were jumping around and yelling, trying to wake themselves up. They had so much energy and excitement, Isaac could not wait to be a part of it. They walked up to a large gate that was just being opened. All the boys rushed in pushing and shoving to get to the window. Isaac stood back a little not wanting to get trampled by all the boys. He watched as each boy asked for so many papers and handed the man in the window their money, they then left the distribution office and started hawking out news titles.

Skip came up behind him. "Ya nervous for your foirst day?"

Isaac smiled. "A bit, never really been out on the streets before."

Skip waved his hand. "Ah, ya'll learn 'em quick, and if ya get lost just follow one of da newsies back to the lodgin' house." He clapped him on the shoulder. "Ya'll do fine." He noticed Isaac looking at the man behind the window. "Dat's Weasel by da way, don't let him scare ya, he's all scowl."

When it was Isaac's turn to go up to the window he was a little more than nervous, but if everyone else could do it, then so could he. Isaac took the dime out of his pocket that Kloppman gave him and sat it on the counter. Weasel looked him up and down with a small scowl, but took the dime and yelled twenty papes to someone behind him. A boy sat the papers down in front of Isaac and he grabbed them and went on his way. He stopped in front of the gates and wondered what he would do if he ran into the boys that tried to take his food. Skip seemed to notice.

"Lookin' for someone?"

Isaac shook his head no, but still looked around.

"Well ya better go sell den." Skip gave Isaac a small shove and he began to walk down the street.

The papers were awkward to hold at first, and Isaac almost dropped them, he was not sure how some of the boys carried one hundred like it was nothing. Isaac looked down at the stack of papers in his hand and realized he forgot about one major thing; he could barely read. His mother taught him a little bit, but the words just seem to jumble together and he never grasped it. So now he had to figure out another way to sell his papers without being able to read them.

Isaac took off down the street and tried to remember what the other newsies were saying about the headlines. He remembered one saying something about a tower in France. It seemed to sell some papers, so that was what Isaac went with for a while.

After Isaac sold a few papers, he decided to take a different approach to getting rid of the ones he had. There was a couple walking down the sidewalk, so Isaac walked in front of them, but then "accidentally" tripped causing some of his papers to fly in front of him.

"Oh dear!" The woman, wearing a pink lacey dress, bent down to make sure Isaac was okay. "Are you alright?"

Isaac nodded and wiped non existent tears from his eyes. "I think so." He looked at the papers that fell in front of him. "Oh no, those papes are messed up, now no one will want to buy them."

"Oh, poor thing." The woman looked up at her husband, who rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"How many papers got ruined there, son?" The man towered over Isaac quite a bit.

Isaac picked up all the papers and counted. "Looks like five, sir."

The man sighed, but reached into his pocket. "All right, we'll take them." He handed Isaac a nickel who handed the man the papers.

"Wow, thanks!" He shoved the nickel in his pocket and smiled at the two.

The woman smiled back. "Now you be careful out here."

Isaac nodded. "I will!"

He walked away and smiled at himself, when he heard someone yell after him from across the street, it was Skip. The other boy had just gotten rid of this last paper when he saw Isaac talking to the couple.

Skip glanced back at the couple walking down the sidewalk. "I saw whatcha did there."

At first Isaac thought Skip was going to yell at him for scamming those people into buying papers, but then he saw the smile on his face.

"Ya know kid, I think you're goin' to fit in with us newsies just fine." Skip smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

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**AN: Thanks so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed it! Also if there is anything particular anyone would like to see out of this story, please let me know! **


	3. Why Dutchy?

**AN: Thank you Ealasaid Una for reviewing! **

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Isaac sold his twenty papers on the first day with no problem. He got lunch with Skip at a place called Tibby's, which seemed to be the prime spot for newsies to go when they were hungry. After they ate, Skip showed Isaac around a bit. He would not divulge his best-selling spots, but he did show him a few places that he and the other boys liked to hang out at after selling their papers.

The main place all the boys seemed to go was a statue of an old man. Isaac was not sure who this man was, but he seemed to be the epicenter of all the newsies. There were a lot of boys playing games by the statue, sitting on it, and smoking around it. Isaac and Skip joined some other boys playing the same pebble game they were playing the night before. The day had gone by very well; most of the newsies seemed to accept Isaac. That was proven to him, however, when the sun started to go down and they went inside.

Most of the boys were heading back to the lodging house and Isaac followed, when they got upstairs, Socks and the other older boys were sitting around playing cards. Socks looked over at Isaac.

"Hey Dutchy, Come 'ere."

Isaac had been learning all the boy's names, and that one was unheard to him. He looked behind him wondering who Socks was talking to, but there was no one there.

"Dutchy, I'm talkin' to ya." Socks put a card down on the table, but looked back up at Isaac.

Skip patted Isaac on the back. "Think he's talkin' to you."

Isaac looked at Skip confused, but walked over to Socks.

"Y-yeah?"

Socks smirked. "Glad to see you survived on your foirst day out." He glanced down at the cards. "You play?"

Isaac, now dubbed Dutchy, shook his head no.

"Well watch and loirn kid." Socks went back to playing cards.

Dutchy stayed and watched the boys play their card game, trying to concentrate on what they were doing. He could read most numbers okay, but his mind was thinking about his new life. The newsies had given him a nickname, something to be known by. That meant they wanted him to stay, which made Dutchy feel like he had a sort of family to look forward to. He knew this life would not always be easy, or even fun sometimes, but he was glad to be there and knew he was going to stick around.

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Over the next few days Dutchy set out to make friends with all the newsies at the lodging house. Skip was still the one he talked to most, but he liked a lot of the other boys there. It was strange to go from only barely knowing his neighbor, to having a variety of friends. He learned how to play new games, and was getting better at navigating around Manhattan. Dutchy also began to make good friends with Kloppman. He would help the man around the lodging house and sit on the front desk and talk to him about his day.

He would not realize it for a long time, but Kloppman was becoming like a father to Dutchy. He had never had a father figure, and Kloppman actually seemed to care about the boy. He helped him with his problems and put him to work around the lodging house, as if he had chores to do. A few boys felt like Kloppman was a replacement for their fathers as well, but most of them did not pay any attention to the old man, except when it came to him yelling at them to get out of bed in the morning. Kloppman was happy though that some of the boys seemed to attach themselves to him, he would have never taken the job at the lodging house if he had hated children, especially not rowdy boys.

The longer Dutchy lived as a newsie, the more his past life faded. He still thought about his mother, of course, and hoped that maybe one day he would run into her while selling papers. Like many of the other boys he sometimes had nightmares of his past; the monsters that were chasing his mother and came to his house after she disappeared. But once he awoke and wiped the sleep from his eyes, Dutchy was as chipper as everyone else and ready to start the day. Not many of the boys talked about theirs pasts, at least not for real. A lot of them made up stories of grand lives they lived and chose to walk away from, or were forced to leave. Dutchy had a feeling that each story had some truth in it, but considering every boy was an expert liar, he could never be too sure.

Skip was a good example of the far-fetched storytelling past. Every time he got going, Skip always had a new adventure to talk about. Dutchy enjoyed listening to Skip rant and rave, as did most of the boys; they pretended to believe just to imagine what it would be like to live a luxurious life.

"I lived in a huge mansion with me folks outside of 'Hattan. We'se had so many servants I'se couldn't even count dem."

"You'se can't count at all." One of the other boys joked.

Skip ignored him. "One day me dad brought home this man from India, who was in charge of it or somethin' and he brought all these enchanted things to the house. Well he gave me dad a monkey paw that made wishes, but me dad wasn't too smart so he made some bad wishes, and well long story short, out house burnt down, me folks died, and I ended up here."

"All because of a monkey paw huh?" Socks was listening in to the story.

"Yeah dat's right." Skip nodded.

"So what happened to the beans you got dat ended up not bein' magic?" Socks questioned.

Skip got red in the face, and all the boys laughed. Just yesterday he told them all about how he traded a cow for beans, but unlike that story, his beans were just ordinary. All the boys would pester Skip about his stories, but in truth they loved them. It was hard to get new entertainment around there and Skip was definitely full of stories, whether they were true or not.

One day Dutchy and Skip caught up with each other after they sold their papers for the day, and were walking around Manhattan. It was nice to not have any rules or place to be. Dutchy really liked his life as a newsie, but something was bothering him about all the other boys; he wondered if their lives were like his before.

"Hey Skip, can I ask ya somethin'?" Dutchy knew that it was like an unwritten rule to never ask about another newsies past, but he felt like he and Skip were good enough friends that he would not get the snot beat out of him for asking.

"Yeah, what?" Skip was kicking a rock as he walked.

"What'd ya do before you came to the lodgin' house?"

Skip looked at him a bit confused. "Whatta ya mean?"

"I mean your life and stuff, what was it like, really?"

"I'se told ya before." Skip stared blankly at Dutchy.

"Yeah, you've told stories, but how was it really?"

Skip stared at Dutchy, he looked a little mad for him asking. "Honest, me mom was a maid for some rich family, me dad walked out on us when I was three. The rich people lost all their money some hows and me mom lost her job. She had to steal to feed us cause she couldn't find woirk, and so da bulls took her to jail, but she got sick there and…died." Skip looked away.

Dutchy was a bit sorry he asked. "I'se real sorry Skip."

"Yeah, me too. What about choo?"

"Me? Mutter used to woirk a night and one day she didn't come back. Some guys broke into out apartment and tore it apart, so I ran. I don't know what happened to her."

Skip nodded because he knew how it felt. "What about your dad?"

Dutchy shrugged. "Dunno, mutter never talked about him."

"Maybe ya'll find your mom someday."

"Yeah, maybe."

The two continued to walk around for a while before catching up with some other boys from the lodging house. They played games until the sun began to sink down and decided to go back to the lodging house. Once everyone got settled they began their card games for the night, while some boys relaxed on their bunks. One thing was off however.

"Where's Socks?" One of the boys looked around and noticed the boy was not there.

Skip shrugged. "Dunno, I haven't seen 'em since dis mornin'."

"Maybe he found himself a goirl." One of the boys began to make kissy faces and everyone started to laugh.

They all shrugged off Socks and a couple of his friends missing. Since there were not technical rules it did not matter if the boys came back at a certain time, but it was unlike Socks to not be there when everyone was beginning to settle down for bed. About an hour later though, Socks came back slugged over the shoulders of his two friends.

"Make room!" The two guys carrying Socks made their way through the bunk room and dropped him onto his bed.

All the boys were rushing around trying to figure out what happened. They lit candles so they could see. Dutchy got out of bed and walked over to Sock's bunk; he was bleeding and bruised all over.

Skip looked up at Ape one of Socks' friends who brought him in. "What happened?"

Ape, whose not so attractive face that gave him his name, looked back at Skip. "He got jumped by Skinny and his gang. He was on his way back here and so were we, dat's when we heard dem. Dey ran off, but dey already got to 'em, robbed 'em too."

The other one that helped bring Socks in nodded at one of the boys. "Go get a rag or somethin'."

"Why'd they jump him?"

"Skinny's always had it in for Socks."

Socks groaned and looked up at all the newsies crowded around him. "Can ya give me some space?" Socks waved his hand, shooing the boys away.

They were hesitant, but all the boys moseyed back to their bunks. Dutchy looked at Socks as he cleaned up his bloody lip with the rag, and he thought about that night his mother came home beaten up. Things had been so nice the last few days, he almost forgot about the bad people that were out there. He wondered if those men were still out there somewhere and what would happen if he ever ran into them. They did not know he existed, but he still did not want to risk ever seeing them. Dutchy lay down and thought about Socks and his mother until he drifted to sleep.

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**AN: Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!**


	4. A Possible Future

The next day all the boys treaded lightly around Socks; who was moving around slower than usual. There were no fights in the washroom, and all the boys were careful not to yell too loud to get the rough side of Socks, or one of the older boys. As they were all leaving for the distribution office Socks did stop them all before they got out of the bunkroom.

"I'se want everyone to be careful out there today. Just watch yourselves." Socks led the way out of the lodging house and all the boys followed.

Everyone was on edge a bit after what Socks said. They were all worried that at anytime they would get jumped by some other newsie somewhere. Dutchy along with a lot of the boys decided to sell in groups that day. They were not sure if the threat was really that dangerous, but they all saw Socks and did not want to take any chances. None of the boys knew why Socks got jumped in the first place because he had not talked about it at all. They were not sure if it was some rival between the two boys, or if a turf war was going to happen.

Skinny and his gang were Manhattan newsies as well, but they sold for Hurst. That was all Dutchy knew about the guy from what the other kids said, but regardless of that, he knew Skinny was bad news.

Now Skinny did get his name from his thin appearance, but he was not weak by any means. The boy was tall, towering just over six feet. He had muscles too, that mirrored those of the Brooklyn newsies. He was tough, but was not feared among most people. On average Skinny kept to himself, and did his work just like anyone else, but when he had a problem with someone they would run the other way. If, however, Skinny ever did decide he wanted more out of his life then just scraping by like all the other kids in New York, he could begin a turf war. And if a turf war started there was a good chance he would win. This was why the newsies were all on edge.

The day went well for everyone, despite their paranoia. Dutchy and Skip had made each other jump on more than one occasion when meeting each other back from selling on separate corners. After the day was done, the two were glad to get back to the lodging house and not have the fear of rival newsies looming down their necks. To their relief Socks was not back yet when they walked into the bunkroom. They did not want to get on his bad side. They knew that he was okay because his friends had made sure to stick by him for the whole day.

"So what's da deal with Skinny and Socks anyways?" Dutchy looked at Skip who was playing with a couple marbles.

"Dunno, Socks was already here when I came. Some of the older ones probably know. But unless ya wanna get da snot beat outta ya, ya shouldn't ask dem." Skip threw one of his marbles on the floor.

"Nah, don't think I wanna risk askin'. Do ya think Skinny's gonna do anythin' else?"

Skip shrugged. "If he didn't today, I don't see why he'd tomorrow."

That was as good of an answer as any, so Dutchy accepted it and joined Skip with his marbles. They continued to play, until more boys came in for the night including Socks and the other older boys. Socks did not say anything, but spent most the night out on the fire escape. The other boys started a poker game like normal and things seemed to go on as they did every night. When Socks did decide to come inside some of the boys were already in bed, or were heading that way. Dutchy could tell something was off, and that was confirmed in the middle of the night.

Dutchy was awoken in his sleep by quiet shuffling around the room. He peeled his eyes open to see a silhouette moving around the bunkroom. After letting his eyes adjust Dutchy realized it was Socks. He could not make out what the older boy was doing, but when he walked by Dutchy's bunk and towards the door, Dutchy whispered out to him.

"Socks, what are ya doin'?" Dutchy sat up in his bed.

Socks sighed and knelt down next to Dutchy's bed. "Just go back to sleep kid."

Now Dutchy could see the bag in Socks' hand. "You goin' somewhere?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'll be fine."

"When ya comin' back?"

Socks rubbed Dutchy's head. "Be good kid." He got up and left the bunk room.

Dutchy sat for a moment confused before drifting back to sleep. His tired mind could not piece together everything yet.

The next morning Kloppman came to wake all the boys up like he always did. They all sat up groggy with sleep, and Dutchy remembered that night. Was he dreaming, or did Socks really leave? He got out of bed and looked over at Socks' bunk; it was empty, and Socks was nowhere to be found. It seemed that the other newsies were starting to notice his absence as well.

Skip looked up at Ape. "Where's Socks?"

The older boy, who was adjusting his suspenders, looked down at Skip. "Don't worry about it kid."

Dutchy finished dressing and was heading to the washroom with Skip in toe. Skip leaned in so the other boys would not hear him. "Where do ya think is?"

Dutchy shrugged. "I saw 'em leave last night, I don't think he's comin' back."

Skip was shocked by this, but did not want to cause a scene so he went over to the sink and to wash his face and decided to talk to Dutchy about it once they started selling. After all the newsies had gotten their papers, Dutchy was trying to listen to the headlines so he could hawk out the news to potential customers, when Skip came up asking about Socks.

"So where'd he go?" Skip was putting his change in his pocket.

Dutchy was still trying to listen. "Where'd who go?"

"Socks of course, who else?"

"What?" Dutchy could hear something about the trolley system, but not sure of the rest.

"Socks…ya said ya saw 'em leave last night." Skip gave him a 'duh' look.

"Oh, right, yeah. Saw 'em leave, but he didn't say where he was goin' or nothin' just seemed like he was leavin' for good ya know." Dutchy started to walk down the street.

Skip followed him. "Where do ya think he went?"

"I dunno Skip, now can we talk about this later. At this rate everyone will already have papers today."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Skip walked across the street and begun to sell off his papers to the people walking by.

Dutchy sighed and looked at a picture on the third page of the paper. There was a trolley on its side, so he figured it must have crashed, for him that was good news.

"Trolley crash leaves many in mortal danger!" Dutchy held his paper up and several people came over to buy one. Most just bought the paper and walked away, but one man bought it and began to read through the paper while standing next to Dutchy.

A moment later he looked angry. "Hey! It doesn't say anything about a crash, it says they are re-tracking the trolley system."

Dutchy's eyes widened for a moment and then he smiled. "Sorry sir, no refunds." He then took off in the other direction hoping to avoid the man.

Skip had made Dutchy miss all the headlines, and now all he had to go off of was a new trolley track. Dutchy needed to start figuring out some good headlines or else he was in for a very, very long day.

When the sun was going down Dutchy was still left with a few papers. He had managed to sell the majority of them with some creative headlines. He decided to cover a lot of ground so no irate customers would come after him when they found out the headlines Dutchy spoke about were not anywhere to be found in the paper. He was still getting used to the whole newsie thing, so coming up with news was hard for him to do on the spot. He decided to head back to the lodging house and throw away his unsold papers when he got there.

After throwing his papers away, Dutchy opened the front door to the lodging house to see Kloppman at the front desk.

"Ah, Dutchy, I was wonderin' when you'd get in." The old man pushed up his glasses.

"Hey Kloppman." Dutchy leaned on the desk.

"Looks like you had a rough day."

Dutchy smiled. "Couldn't sell all my papes."

"Well there's always tomorrow." He clapped Dutchy on the shoulder.

"Yeah, well goodnight." Dutchy made his way toward the stairs.

"Night." Kloppman shuffled to his back room.

When Dutchy walked into the bunkroom he practically got tackled by a couple of the other boys. "Skip said you saw Socks leave" "Is 'e comin' back?" "Where'd he go?"

Dutchy could not understand anything the boys were saying as they were all talking at once. Ape came over and shoved the boys away.

"Alright, alright give the kid some breathin' room. Sheesh." Ape looked around all the boys for a moment and sighed. "Okay, everyone just sit down, shut up, and listen."

The boys obeyed and sat down around the room, but close enough that they could still hear Ape. Dutchy walked over to his bed and sat on the edge.

"Look, I know ya all want to know where Socks went, but only he can answer dat. Alls I know is that he left and he don't plan on comin' back, so you can all just cool it with all dis okay." He could tell the boys were not satisfied with this answer. "As for why, he talked to me 'bout it yesterday and decided he was getting too old for dis, so that's it."

Skip spoke up. "What about Skinny?"

"What about 'em?" Ape glared at Skip.

"Why'd he hate Socks?"

Ape shook his head. "I'm gonna say dis one time and den I ain't gonna talk about it no more understood?"

The boys nodded.

"Okay, Socks used to woirk for Hearst. He and Skinny were friends den, but somethin' happened between dem, I don't know what so don't ask, but it led to Socks leavin' and comin' here to sell for Pulitzer. Whatever happened between dem made Skinny hate Socks, and dats why he had it in for 'em. So don't worry 'bout no turf war, or nothin' like dat. Socks is gone, so Skinny won't be buggin' no one. Now dat's done so everyone can just go back to normal. People leave, especially here; it's just how it goes." Ape waited for the boys to disperse, but they did not seem like they wanted to budge. "Go to bed." Ape shouted it a little and the boys jumped up.

Dutchy, as well as the other boys, were trying to process everything Ape had just told them. It was strange to think that Socks sold for another paper. When he got there the boys made it sound like all other newsies were competition, and if they did not sell the World News then they could be out of a job. Dutchy also thought about him and Skip. So far Skip was his closest friend at the lodging house. What if something happened down the road that caused them to have a falling out? Would Dutchy leave and sell for another paper? It was odd to think how common that situation probably was for a lot of newsies. They got a lot of turn out all the time, and who knows where those boys were before hand. No one really talked about their pasts there, so any one of the boys could have sold for someone else. As Dutchy drifted to sleep he thought about what his future might hold, and if it involved something similar to Socks' or not.

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**AN: Thanks for reading! **


	5. Anthony Higgins

It had been over a month since Socks left, and Dutchy almost never heard his name. Sometimes when the other boys saw Skinny the entire story got brought up again, but it was almost as if Socks was an enigma that had never lived there. Dutchy realized that was how it worked within the newsie circle. There were a few that would be remembered forever, but like the news headlines they would disappear over time and be forgotten. He wondered what it would be like for him someday when he left, would he be remembered or would he just be forgotten like yesterday's old news?

Dutchy had gotten used to selling at this point. The newspaper felt natural in his hands, and despite him not being able to read, the headlines came out more natural than before. Stretching the truth came easier; he would hear what they other boys were yelling out of the distribution office, and make up his own stories to scream out into the busy crowds. His stories would be close enough to the truth that he did not get questioned about it most of the time, and if Dutchy was yelling out something completely made up he was quick on his feet to hide.

One day Dutchy was out selling by himself, they air was warm so a lot of people were out. He had just finished selling a paper to a man walking to work when he got tapped on the shoulder. Dutchy turned around to see an Italian boy around his age staring at him. At first Dutchy thought he wanted a paper, but before he could say anything the boy spoke.

"How do ya become a newsie?"

Dutchy was taken back by this for a moment, but he was like this kid once. He smiled and tucked the paper, he thought he was going to sell to the boy, under his arm. "Dat's easy. Ya just buy some papes at the distribution office, and sell dem to people. Dey cost half of what ya sell dem for, so it ain't bad."

The boy nodded. "Dat's it?"

"Dat's it. So ya thinkin' 'bout becomin' a newsie?" Dutchy started to walk a little bit and stake out potential costumers.

"Yeah, maybe. Ya live at a lodgin' house right?"

"Yeah, no family?" Dutchy figured if this kid was asking him this many questions he probably had no other place to go.

"Not anymore."

"Me neither. Anyways, ya just go to the lodgin' house and up to Kloppman, he runs it. Put your name in a book and pay 'em five cents a week. Like I said, easy. Been doin' it practically me whole life, names Dutchy by the way." Dutchy spit in his hand and held it out.

The boy did the same. "Anthony Higgins. So why do they call ya Dutchy?"

Dutchy laughed a little and continued walking. Anthony stuck around with him until he finished selling and the two boys went to Tibby's for lunch. Dutchy learned that Anthony had a good amount of money on him, said his dad had won it betting on horses. Anthony was nice enough to buy Dutchy lunch, and while they ate Anthony asked if Dutchy liked poker. Dutchy could tell this kid would fit in just fine as a newsie.

That night Dutchy showed Anthony the ropes around the lodging house and introduced him to the other boys. Anthony fit in almost in an instant. As soon as he pulled out his cards all the boys gathered around and they played a few games of poker. Anthony seemed be a storyteller like Skip was, and the two got along pretty well. Dutchy felt pretty good that night for bringing another boy into the newsie world. The longer he sold newspapers the more he felt like he was a part of something, which he had never really felt before.

At the crack of dawn the next morning Kloppman came upstairs and woke everyone up. Dutchy looked over at Anthony to see him groggy and half asleep. He laughed a little and went up to him.

"Yeah we have to get up early, but if we don't we can't sell nothin'. You'll get used to it though. Better hurry and wash up." Dutchy went on to fight his way through the morning crowd to the bathroom.

Anthony nodded and followed him to the sinks. After everyone finished getting ready they rushed out of the door and downstairs. Kloppman was counting all the boys making sure they got off to work, but when he saw Dutchy he stopped him before he could get out of the door.

"Ah, Dutchy, come here for a minute." Kloppman waved his hand.

At first Dutchy thought he was in trouble, but he could not think of anything he did. Maybe Kloppman was mad he brought Anthony to the lodging house, but that did not make any sense because new boys came and went all the time. "Yeah?"

"I was hoping after you get done selling today, you could help me around here a bit." The man smiled at the boy.

"Oh, yeah I can do that." Dutchy returned the smile and headed for the door. "See you later!"

Dutchy ran out the door to catch up with the rest of the boys. They got to the distribution office and Dutchy saw that Skip was showing Anthony how to buy papers. He was glad he was fitting in well. Dutchy got his papers and headed out into the streets. He was halfway through his papers when he ran into Anthony and Skip.

"Hey, how's your foirst day goin'?"

"Not bad, though I think once I figure out me way around I'll try the racetrack."

Skip looked at him. "Sheepshead? Ain't dat in Brooklyn?"

"Yeah."

"Just make sure ya don't trek on any of there sellin' turf. Ya might regret it." Skip looked a little worried.

Racetrack shrugged.

Dutchy decided to sell with the boys for the rest of the afternoon. After they finished they wanted to go find something fun to do, but Dutchy told them he had to get back to the lodging house to help Kloppman out with some things. They said goodbye and he headed back. Once he got back into the lodging house he walked up to the front desk.

"Kloppman!"

The old man shuffled from a back room and smiled at the boy. "Ah Dutchy, just in time to help sweep up, and if ya do a good job, I'll let ya stay tonight no charge."

Dutchy smiled and grabbed the broom from Kloppman's hand. "Gee thanks Kloppman." Dutchy began to sweep up.

After he was done, Kloppman set a bunch of books on the desk. "Dutchy, would you mind putting these back where they belong."

Dutchy stared at the books for a moment, he knew Kloppman had a certain order he put them in. He was worried since he could not read he would not be able to put them where they go, but since no one knew that he could not read Dutchy nodded and scooped up the books. He walked to the bookshelf in the back room and stared for a moment. He saw labels on the shelves, and looked at the books in his hands. He had no idea where they went, so he just found space and put them on the shelf. He walked back up to the front desk.

"Need anythin' else?"

The man shook his head. "No, that should be fine for today, thanks for helpin'"

"No problem." Dutchy left the lodging house to meet up with some other newsies for the last couple hours of daylight left.

He hung around the statue in the square with some of the other boys until the sun started to go down. Most of the boys headed back to the lodging house and on the way he spotted Anthony and Skip. They ran up to Dutchy a little.

Skip seemed really excited about something. "Dutchy, ya should have been there today! We ran into Horace, that big oaf who thinks he's owns the streets, and instead of soakin' us, Anthony convinced 'em to play 'em in poker and bet all his money! Anthony had 'em sweatin' an he blew 'em away. Ya should have seen it!"

Dutchy looked at Anthony who was a bit red in the face, but nodded to confirm the story. "Wow, dat's impressive."

Skip nodded and ran up to some other newsies going to the lodging house and started to tell them the story.

Dutchy laughed. "Looks like you're already a legend here."

"Yeah, I guess so." Anthony smiled and followed Dutchy into the lodging house.

That night all Skip would talk about was his and Anthony's encounter with Horace. Every time Skip told the story, however, it seemed to get more extravagant than the time before. By the end of the night the story had changed so dramatically that some of the boys forgot what it was even about to begin with.

The next day after Dutchy finished selling he hung around with Anthony and Skip until they decided to go back to the lodging house. When they got in Kloppman stopped Dutchy before he could go upstairs.

"Dutchy, come here for a minute."

"Yeah, Kloppman?" Dutchy hopped up on the desk.

Kloppman was squinting at his log book. "Can you tell me what this says?" He pointed to a line on the page.

Dutchy stared at the paper wide eyed. "Umm…can't make it out."

"Hmm…I thought as much, follow me." The man started to walk to the back room.

Dutchy hopped down from the desk and followed Kloppman. When he got to the room he noticed that books were reorganized from the way he had done it the day before. Kloppman brushed his fingers along the spines a few books until he landed on one.

"You can't read." It was not a question, Kloppman knew his secret.

"No." Dutchy looked at the ground.

"Nothin' to be ashamed about, son, I've seen plenty of boys come through here not able to read a lick of scrap, but…" He pulled the book off the shelf. "If you're willin' to learn, I wouldn't mind teachin' ya."

Dutchy looked up from the ground. "Really, you'd do that?"

The man smiled and nodded. "It won't be easy, but it'll help ya sell more papes, as well as get ya further in life."

"Me mom, tried, but the words, they just didn't seem right. They were all jumbled and stuff."

"Well, we'll see if we can't fix that."

"Gee, Kloppman, that'd be great, really." Dutchy's eyes lit up.

Kloppman held out the book. "Here, this'll help for starters. After ya get done sellin' we'll have lessons, and make sure ya don't lose that book."

Dutchy took the book from Kloppman. "I won't, I promise. Thanks again!" He left the room and ran upstairs to look through the book Kloppman had giving him. There were lots of pictures and what he could tell were letters. It seemed like it would be a big help in teaching him how to read.

That night all Dutchy could think about was how is life would change if he could actually learn to read. He would be able to sell more papers and not have to rely on listening to what the other newsies shouted out in the morning. Things would definitely improve.

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**AN: Thanks for reading! I threw a few things from Racetrack's story in there for the people that have read that, but changed him up a bit so it makes the story more interesting. Hoped you liked it! **


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